Desperate to clear their names, Inquisitor Sand’s Acolytes travel to the remote trading outpost of Bonner’s Reach looking for answers. The festival of “Firetide” (what the locals call the spectacular solar flashes that their dying sun gives off every year) is in full swing and the busy outpost has drawn quite a crowd- both humans and Xenos alike. While they fail to locate the traitor, Sgt. Forden, the Acolytes do find an unlikely information source in their one-time adversary the Dark Eldar Haemonculus know as Akrivas.

In exchange for a Xenos artifact known as a Halo Device, Akrivas agrees to provide the Acolytes with a valuable lead to assist their quest. He also tells the Acolytes the location of a Halo Device which is in the possession of a corrupt noble of Sepheris Secundus named Lukas Lochart.

In addition, an interesting side encounter took place on the station in which Titus meets an individual from his unremembered past. This man gives him a strange red rock that is infused with Warp energy. The nature of the rock is unknown and the man offers no answers other than he and Titus used to be business partners and this object was stashed away to be given to Titus.

Arriving on Sepheris Secundus, the Acolytes easily find information on where to find Lochart as he is a well-established member of the royal court. They also find out that the once popular nobleman has become eccentric in the past couple of decades- becoming a recluse and donning a mask to cover his face in his rare public appearances. A member of the Queen’s intelligence agency learns of the Acolytes investigation into Lochart and even gives them unofficial sanction that a blind eye will be turned in their direction should Lochart have an unfortunate “accident.”

The Acolytes break in to Lukas’ mansion and confront the noble and his henchmen in the middle of a ghastly flesh-eating ceremony in which the raw flesh of unfortunate victims was being consumed in the light of a mysterious orb. The Acolytes attacked, but Lukas was no longer a mere human. Taking massive amounts of damage, the human abomination manages to cut off Xerxes’ ear before he is vanquished.

Retrieving the Halo Device, the Acolytes made haste to the star port but were intercepted by the same agent of the Queen’s Intelligence agency that gave them the unofficial “green light” to remove Lukas. Going back on their unofficial deal, the agent placed the Acolytes under arrest for the murder of Lukas and their other Outstanding Warrants and it was only through the timely intervention of Trempan and his Inquisitional Authority that granted the Acolytes safe passage off planet.

Back at Bonner’s Reach, the Acolytes meet up with Akrivas and in exchange for the Halo Device he provides the Acolytes with a set of coordinates to a location in the forbidden Threnos System. He does not elaborate on what they will find there other than it will answer many of their questions. With their new information, the Acolytes make their way back to their ship, but not before a group of well-trained bounty-hunters attempt to take them into custody. An intense battle ensues and the Acolytes manage to dispatch the bounty-hunters but are heavily wounded in the process. The course to the Threnos System is set.

• GM’s Note: This mission was created by the GM with parts inspired from Dan Abnett’s Ravenor novel.